The captain of a Carnival Corp. (CCL) ship
that ran aground off Italy told a judge yesterday that he made a
mistake by steering too close to Giglio Island, according to a
court document obtained by Bloomberg News.

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia,
failed to promptly advise the Italian Coast guard after he
struck rocks along the coast and later allegedly abandoned the
ship carrying 4,200 passengers and crew with at least 100 people
still aboard, according to yesterday’s ruling by Judge Valeria
Montesarchio putting him under house arrest. She rejected the
prosecutor’s request to keep him in jail.

“The captain has always been there in front of his ship,
albeit on the shore, to coordinate operations,” Bruno
Leporatti, Schettino’s lawyer, said at a press conference today
broadcast by SkyTG24. Schettino said he made an emergency
maneuver after hitting the rocks to prevent the ship from
heading out to sea and sinking, according to the document.

Judge Montesarchio said the 51-year-old captain admitted
that he deviated from the ship’s programmed route, coming 0.28
nautical miles from the coast. He then allegedly refused pleas
from a Coast Guard official to return to the ship, the document
shows. He “underestimated the damage” and gave the evacuation
order more than an hour after the ship hit rocks by the island,
delaying rescue operations, according to the document.

Stranded Ship

Schettino didn’t make a serious attempt to get back on the
ship and stood more than an hour on the shore in front of the
stranded vessel without acting, according to the document. The
captain claims he didn’t leave the vessel intentionally and that
he was prevented from going back to the ship, the document
shows. He said during his interrogation that the ship’s listing
made him trip over and fall into a lifeboat, la Repubblica said.
Judge Montesarchio rejected the prosecutor’s request for
custody, saying there’s no risk of the captain fleeing.

The ship’s path on the day it hit rocks was similar to a
route taken by the same vessel on Aug. 14, 2011, according to
tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. In August, the Costa
Concordia remained no less than 500 meters away from the island
on an authorized route, Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman of
Carnival’s Italian unit, Costa Crociere SpA, said at a Jan. 16
press conference.

Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, said today
it has begun refunding passengers and said is arranging lodging,
transportation and counseling for passengers and crew.

“I give my personal assurance that we will take care of
each and every one of our guests, crew and their families
affected by this tragic event,” Micky Arison, chairman and
chief executive officer of the Miami-based company, said in the
statement.

Imploring Captain

Divers yesterday discovered five more bodies on the
stricken ship, bringing the death toll to 11. More than 20
people are missing.

Schettino may face criminal charges including manslaughter
and abandoning the Costa Concordia when passengers were still
onboard, according to prosecutor Francesco Verusio.

Montesarchio took three hours of testimony from Schettino
yesterday as TV news programs and websites broadcast audio of
phone conversations on Jan. 13 between Schettino and a senior
Coast Guard official after the Costa Concordia hit the rocks.

Coast Guard Commander Gregorio Maria De Falco repeatedly
ordered Schettino to get back on the cruise liner, at times
swearing at the captain. Schettino initially told the official
that only 40 people remained on the ship at a time when hundreds
were still trying to evacuate. The ship began listing,
complicating efforts to lower lifeboats and forcing passengers
to move across the exposed hull to reach rescue boats.

Rope Ladder

“There are people climbing down a rope ladder on the bow
of the ship, take a lifeboat and climb up that ladder and climb
up on to the ship and tell me how many people are there,” De
Falco, speaking from the city of Livorno on the Italian
mainland, told Schettino, according to audio posted yesterday on
the website of newspaper Corriere della Sera. “Tell me if there
are women, children and people in need.”

When the captain hesitated, De Falco said there were
fatalities and again ordered him to return. “You realize it’s
dark and we can’t see anything?” Schettino said, adding that
“other rescue workers” were now in place.

“You’ve been telling me that for an hour, now get back on
board!” the Coast Guard official shouted. A Coast Guard
spokesman confirmed that the audio is authentic.

Taxi Ride

Schettino didn’t return and took a taxi on Giglio before
being arrested, media including Sky TG24 reported. The
prosecutor had requested that Schettino be held in jail because
of the risk he might flee, rather than be permitted to return to
his home in Sorrento, Italy.

Bruno Leporatti, Schettino’s lawyer, wasn’t available for
comment today. Schettino is “shattered, dismayed, saddened for
the loss of lives and strongly disturbed,” Leporatti said in a
statement Jan. 16.

Authorities yesterday for the first time released a list of
those still unaccounted for.

Carnival shares rose 3.2 percent to $30.55 at the close in
in New York after falling 14 percent yesterday, the biggest
decline since the first day of trading after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks in 2001.

Schettino, who joined the company in 2002, was promoted to
captain in 2006 and never had a prior accident, according to
Fosci.

First Accident

The Costa Concordia ran aground about 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13
within hours of leaving a port near Rome to continue a
Mediterranean cruise. The ship’s route was set electronically
before it left, and the cruise liner shouldn’t have been so
close to Giglio, Foschi said on Jan. 16.

“The fact that the ship strayed from that course can only
be due to a maneuver that was not approved, not authorized nor
communicated to Costa Crociere by the captain of the ship,”
Foschi said.

Foschi visited the island yesterday and said the accident
didn’t reflect any safety issues with Costa ships.

“Our ships are safe just as they were on Friday,” he said
from Giglio, where the Concordia juts out of the water just off
the edge of the island. “It has nothing to do with security at
sea nor does it have anything to do with our policy, training or
the quality of our personnel.”

Electrical Problem

Passengers were initially told after the collision that the
ship had an electrical problem and there was nothing to be
concerned about. When the order to abandon ship was given, it
was beginning to list, making it impossible to lower many of the
lifeboats, passengers on the cruise liner said. Video released
Jan. 16 of the rescue operation showed hundreds of passengers
moving along the side of the ship to reach ladders that led down
to water, where they were loaded onto rescue boats.

Giglio, an island of 1,500 inhabitants in winter who
survive on fishing and tourism, is located about 14 miles from
the Tuscan coast. Giglio lies within the “Santuario dei
Cetacei,” an area of roughly 33,784 square kilometers that in
1999 was declared by the governments of France, Italy and Monaco
a sanctuary for marine mammals such as dolphins and whales.

Weather conditions could move the ship to deeper water,
Environment Minister Corrado Clini said today in Parliament.
Italy is considering whether to declare a state of emergency for
the area, he said.